Chasing Love
by Bellatrix wannabe 89
Summary: Classic romantic story of girl meets boy, boy likes girl, girl calls boy a 'krout' trying to win his heart, boy gets mad at girl for the racial slur and storms off, and girl has to make boy see she really does love him and make him see he loves her as well. Peter/Mariska ship.
1. Chapter 1

I own no one.

**A/N Okay so this is a fluffy RPF AKA Real Person Fic. It is a completely and utterly false story about two people who actually exist, in this case Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann but this is not meant to be insulting or mean or degrading. It is made for fun, it in NO way is truth, and it is in no way meant to be taken serious and if you all could not report me that would be great. So, as always, Read, Enjoy, and Review but mostly Enjoy. :-) And not report me. Because that would be mean. Thank you. And don't report me.**

"You're staring again."

"I'm not staring."

"You are and it's sad."

Mariska rolled her eyes as she turned from watching Stephanie, who just so happened to be talking to Peter, towards Chris who merely smirked as he took a sip of his water as they sat inside outside her trailer taking a break for lunch. "You think I stare at every single guy that comes on the set."

"You never actually stammered before. 'Oh, uh h- hi. I- I'm Mar- Mariska'," he mocked in a high falsetto voice. "I think you forgot the own 'shh' part of your name you were so nervous when you met him in the read through."

Mariska shrugged as she took a bite of her salad. "What I'm not allowed to have an off day?"

"That isn't an off day, that is you being flustered," Chris countered as he stole a plum tomato from on top of her food. "Plus he's exactly your type."

Mariska narrowed her eyes in confusion. "How the hell do you know my type, I've been single every day since I met you."

"I've seen pictures of your exes. You're into tall guys with blue eyes."

"Green," Mariska corrected quickly.

"Okay so you're into tall guys with dark green eyes."

"Light green."

Chris smirked as he took another sip of his water. "Thank you for proving my point."

"That means nothing!"

"You didn't even know I had blue eyes until the third week we worked together, and you know he has 'light green' eyes after working with him for 3 days? One of whom he was on the opposite end of the table?" Chris raised his brow at his co star. "Don't try to tell me even for a minute you aren't into him."

Mariska sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Fine fine so he's tall and good looking and single so sue me! I'm allowed to look if I want."

Chris shook his head and chuckled as she sighed and they both turned their attention back towards Peter and Stephanie, both of whom was talking to one another with smiles on their faces. "I never felt this way about any other guy before, including the one I was engaged to. It's like we... we have this connection you know? From the moment we met it was like sparks. At least for me."

"I've seen the way he looks at you and talks to you. He's got it just as bad, trust me. Plus you're always joking and having fun with him when you guys talk."

Mariska shook her head. "Only when we're in a group."

"So get him to talk outside of the group."

"Yeah can't do that."

"Why?"

"Because every time I try to talk to him I get nervous and I stammer and my heart starts racing and I can't breathe."

"All the more reason to talk to him."

Mariska rolled her eyes and gestured towards Peter and Stephanie. "No. Plus look at him with Stephanie. He's into her."

"He is not into her in the least!" Chris protested. "Are you kidding me?"

"Then why are they always going off and talking to one another in private?" Mariska demanded.

"Maybe they're talking about how much he likes you?" offered Chris with a shrug.

The actress rolled her eyes as she took another bite of her salad and turned back to the pair. "That's not it at all. Trust me, he likes her."

xXxXx

"Do you think I'll come across like a Gold Digger?"

"If you keep asking me that I'll tell her you are."

Peter held back a sigh as he glanced over towards Mariska and Chris who were taking a break and looked deep in thought. "I never felt this kind of connection with any woman before. When we met it was just... fireworks. I know it'll sound crazy but I feel we both connected."

Stephanie smiled at him. "I bet she feels the same way."

Peter continued to gaze at Mariska for several more seconds before he turned back towards Stephanie. "If I make a fool of myself-."

"I don't think it's possible for you to screw up. Hell you pronounced her name right the first time with no glitches. That takes skill."

"The point is... is that I've... never done all that well with the opposite sex. I was a nerd in High School, two or three non serious girlfriends in college, very few serious relationships since... I can't screw this up with her or make her think I'm trying to take advantage of her."

"She won't think that and you won't screw up," Stephanie assured him with a gentle smile. "Every time you talk to me it has been about that woman. I've told you enough about her that you could write her autobiography. At this point I think you could write one on her mother as well."

"Which is a highly sensitive topic not to be discussed," Peter repeated the advice Stephanie had told him the first day they met when Peter had asked if Mariska would find it insulting or flattering he knew about her Hollywood Legacy family.

"Very good but you know what she likes, how to win her over, how not to make her go running away screaming... Just be confident, walk over there, smile, and ask her if she wants to run lines."

Peter took a deep breath before he nodded and turned towards Mariska. "Wish me luck," he muttered.

Telling himself he was nuts for even being remotely interested in the woman he was about to go over and speak to he walked over to where Mariska and Chris were sitting still talking to one another. When he approached closer he shoved his hands in his pockets so she wouldn't see him fidgeting.

Chris noticed him first and elbowed Mariska who was immersed in a text she had just received in the ribs to make her look up. "That hurt, wop," she told him without looking up from her phone.

"Well pay attention then, bohunk."

"To what?"

"To the tall guy you've been eye fucking all day walking towards you."

Mariska snapped her head up and she turned towards Peter. Her face fell and she swallowed hard as he walked over to them.

Peter offered a smile and Mariska forced one to her lips, already feeling her hands go cold and clammy from the nerves. "Hello Chris, Mariska."

Before Mariska could say anything Chris nodded at him and stood up. "Hey, Peter. Here I'm done stealing her food and feeling her up when no one's looking, take my place."

Leaving Peter slightly bewildered Chris clapped Mariska's shoulder and walked off. Mariska cleared her throat as she looked up at him and offered him a somewhat nervous smile.

"So... you wanna sit down?" she asked.

"Thank you"

Peter sat down besides Mariska, making sure to move his seat away form her somewhat as to not make her feel uncomfortable. Mariska gave him another smile as she picked up another piece of tomato with her fork.

"You wanna hear something interesting about tomatoes?" asked Peter as he nodded towards her salad.

"Sure," Mariska said a bit to eagerly as she set down her fork so she wouldn't be caught talking with her mouth full.

"A Tomato isn't the only fruit mistaken for a vegetable," he began. "True fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, and contain the seeds of the plant. So by that definition that also makes cucumbers, squash, green beans fruits as well. Vegetables are parts of the plants that don't carry the seeds like the stems, leaves, flowers, roots..."

Mariska looked down at her salad before she looked back up at Peter. "So what you're saying is by eating fruits, you're actually eating out the plant?"

Peter opened his mouth to agree but when he realized what she was saying he closed it and cleared his throat. "Uh... yeah."

He was about to excuse himself and walk away from her when he heard her laugh. The sound relaxed him enough to smile at the joke she had made, feeling comfortable enough to pull his hands out of his pockets.

"That's actually very interesting," she told him with a smile after she was done laughing. "Where'd you learn that?"

"When I was in college one of my professors used to put random facts like that in for extra credit to see if we were really listening. He;d be talking about the subject on and on and on then without missing a beat he'd give us a random fact and go right back to his lecture. Then he'd give us a question on the test for bonus points."

"And I have a feeling you were one of the guys that got all of the random questions correct?"

"Very much so."

Mariska put down her salad, knowing she wasn't going to be able to eat the rest of it without laughing and instead picked up her bottle of water. "Where'd you go to school?"

"Yale," he answered without hesitation. "English major."

Mariska whistled low. "Wow. So what made you go into acting?"

"I thought I was good at it and it'd make more money then being a fact checker at vanity fair," he said with a quick laugh "But what about you? Have you always wanted to act?"

"Believe it or not, not really. It wasn't until high school that I got involved in acting that I realized how much I loved it."

"And how good you were at it," he added with a smile.

Mariska blushed and gave him a soft grin. "Thank you."

They were launched into a quick bout of silence before Peter spoke. "So Mariska is an beautiful name, what heritage are you?"

Mariska blushed once more and couldn't help the sheepish grin that rose to her lips. "Thank you. And it's Hungarian. It's actually quite common over there, it's their 'Mary.' What about you?"

"I'm full blooded German," he told her, feeling more confident by the moment when it came to her.

"So you're a krout," she said with a short laugh.

And the confidence was gone.

Peter raised his brow at her insult. There was no way she had just insulted him like that...

"Oh that's funny," he told her with a bit more anger then he had wanted to show her.

Mariska's face fell and her eyes went wide when she realized she had crossed a line. "That- I- um.. It- that wa- was a joke," she told him quickly stammering through her apology.

"Yeah, I'm sure. If you'll excuse me I need to go practice my lines."

Without a single look back Peter got up from the chair Chris had offered and walked away.

"Peter, wait it was just a joke!" Mariska cried out but he didn't even flinch. "Are you kidding me right now!" she groaned as she threw her face into her open palms.

Chris and Stephanie who had been watching with eager eyes from afar quickly walked over to her when they saw the abrupt mood swing from Peter and the face palm from Mariska.

"What happened?" Chris demanded taking the seat he had been using.

Stephanie twisted her hair nervously as she waited for Mariska to answer. If she had given Peter bad advice then she could be on the fault for ruining what could have been an amazing relationship.

"I did something stupid and now he'll probably never wanna talk to me again," Mariska mumbled with her head still firmly in her hands.

"I'm sure it couldn't have been that bad," Chris said with a supportive smile and wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah I'm sure you're just over reacting," Stephanie added.

"He told me he was German so I called him a krout and he stormed off."

"Yup, you're gonna die alone."

Mariska picked her head up to glare at Chris for a moment before she sank back into her chair. "How the hell could I do this? It was just a joke, I didn't mean for him to get so offended!"

"Yes because calling someone an ethnic slur always make everything so much better. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I don't know! We were smiling and laughing and joking and I just thought it would be funny."

Chris shook his head as he too leaned back in his chair. "You really are a bohunk sometimes, you know that, Hargitay?"

"I think I've handled all the ethnic slurs I can take for one day, thanks," she said dryly. "But what the hell am I gonna do, Chris? I don't want him to leave the set angry at me."

Just as Chris opened his mouth there was a shrill beep on the set coming from what seemed like every direction followed by someone on a loud speaker. "Ten minute warning. All talent and principal crew for scene 4-1 needed on set. Ten minute warning."

Mariska sighed as she and Chris stood up from their chairs. "What the hell am I gonna do?" she asked as they made their way to the set.

Chris shrugged as he held open the door for her. "Apologize and maybe he'll forgive you. If not you're gonna die sad and alone because you're socially awkward and called him a rude and demeaning name."

Mariska stopped and looked at him for a moment before she shook her head and walked in front of him with Chris chuckling softly behind her thinking of only one thing; "this is gonna be fun to watch."

This is a Multi Chap fic, not sure how long but *shrugs* you can't have enough Petska RPF.. So please review, I tried REALLY hard to get the characterization good but so be honest and please review :-)


	2. Chapter 2

I own no one but my own people

"Cut! Mariska, Sweetie, I need you focused right now, not looking like you're in the middle of a day dream. We got one more shot and then you're done for the day. You think you' gonna be okay?"

Mariska snapped out of her thoughts and turned towards the director, Constantine, who was doing his best not to shout at the woman who had ruined nearly every take since after lunch. It was the end of the day, it was a big dramatic scene, and he just wanted to be done with the actual shooting for the day.

All eyes flashed to the actress who cleared her throat. "Sorry, everyone," Mariska announced, "my fault."

"You need to take a break?" he asked once again trying to hide his agitation.

Chris eyes the director for a quick second before he smirked, wrapping his arm around Mariska. "She'll be fine. We had sex in her tailor during lunch so she's probably just tired from that."

Mariska rolled her eyes at the attempt Chris made to try to lighten the mood. Surely she would play right along with his stories but today she was in no mood to play around.

She had no more scenes with Peter that day so he was happy to stay behind the camera when she was on screen, glancing at his script and avoiding any and all contact with Mariska at any cost. She tried catching his eyes several times but he always seemed to be glancing away or looking down when that happened.

This time was no different and her spirits sank even more when he refused to look over at her. Any other person that ignored her like that she would have brushed off and forgave but he was different. She didn't wanna brush Peter off. At all.

But she was working right now and her director was getting more and more angrier with every shot she ruined so she tore her eyes away from the tall man and turned back towards Constantine who rolled his eyes as well. "Well whatever the reason, this is our last scene for the day and we really need it done so lets just get through it, alright?"

Mariska swallowed hard and nodded. Their director took a deep breath and grabbed his script. "Lets take it back to Elliot saying 'I go home' and go from there. Cameras one, three, and four on, lighting stay fixed."

Mariska cast a final look towards Peter who still continued to read his script before she quickly turned back towards Chris who, for all his ribbing, gave her a sympathetic smile. "And action!"

"Law and Order, 3.11, scene 6-2, rolling!"

They heard the loud clap and Chris immediately launched into his lines. "So what, I go home and I'm supposed to tell Kathy about my day? 'Honey, today some guy cut a baby out of a woman's stomach, pass the gravy please'."

Chris shook his head and Mariska narrowed her eyes like she was angry at the man sitting next to her. "So you just don't talk? You don't tell her anything?"

"Well one of us has to sleep at night." He lifted his head to look at her. "She thinks I'm shutting her out."  
Mariska shook her head and stood up from the bench. "You are. It's what you do, Elliot, and if you don't watch it, you're going to lose the best thing you have."

Without giving him a second she turned and walked, carefully hitting every pink tape they had laid out for her mark.

"And cut! Everyone that's a wrap, good job. See you here bright and early, 6 AM! Scenes 4, 7,8, and 2 tomorrow, lets get it done, folks, we ran a little bit behind today."

Mariska sighed with relief as the loud buzz echoed in the New Jersey set. She ran a hand through her hair as she trudged to wardrobe where her clothes were locked securely away. She quickly changed in the clothes she had on before she had started filming, bid them good night and made her way towards her dressing room where Chris was waiting with a sad smile. "Hey," he greeted with a nod, shoving his hands in his pockets to protect him from the cold January cold. "You doing okay?"

Mariska shrugged as she too secured her hands in her coat. "I'll be better once I get home and forget this whole day ever happened."

Chris' smile disappeared. "Marish, come on it wasn't that bad."

"He wouldn't even look at me the rest of the day," she said with a slight whine.

"He'll get over it. If not then is he really worth pining over?"

"Yes."

Chris rolled his eyes but as he opened his mouth to protest, something behind her shoulder caught his eye and he nodded towards him. "Look what Krout showed up," he muttered gently as he began to walk towards whatever had caught his eye. Mariska followed his line of sight and that familiar warm feeling filled her as Peter walked over to her and gave her a soft smile. "Hey," Mariska breathed as he stopped in front of her.

"Hey," he greeted just as soft.

They stood in awkward silence for a moment before Mariska cleared her throat. "So we really haven't had a chance to talk since lunch," she muttered.

"Yeah I feel that's kind of my fault," said Peter. "And I apologize for that."

"No, you don't have to, I'm the one who insulted you," Mariska said quickly. "I shouldn't have insulted you like that."

"I over reacted."

"I would have done the same thing."

"Even still, it was immature of me to storm off like that and act like a child the rest of the day."

Mariska raised her brow. "Are we gonna do the thing where we both try to one up the other on who was more wrong?"

"Looks like it," Peter affirmed with a smile that made the shorter brunette weak in the knees.

Mariska returned the smile before she wrapped her coat around her tighter. "I know we have to be in real early tomorrow but do you maybe wanna go get some coffee somewhere?"

Peter raised his brow. "You're serious?"

"Yeah. I mean it's cold out, a nice hot coffee might be just what we need to warm s both up," she said with a slight smirk.

Before Peter could answer a shrill ring came forth from Mariska's pocket. "Crap," she muttered as she pulled out her phone. "Hold that thought," she told him as she glanced down at the Caller ID. The caller had a name but she had no idea who 'Ryan' was so she merely flipped open the phone and put it to her ear. "Hello," she greeted, holding up a finger to Peter to tell him to hang on another second.

"Is this Mariska?" a males voice asked.

"Yes. Who's this?"

"This is Ryan Gil. Stephanie said she gave me your number a few days ago? We were supposed to go out tonight?"

Mariska's lips parted in confusion for a moment before her jaw dropped. She ran a hand through her hair that in her opinion was far too short as the memory came crashing back down to her. "Oh my God, I'm sorry! I completely forgot we..." Mariska swallowed hard as she looked over a patiently waiting Peter and sighed. "We were supposed to go out tonight."

Peter's face fell for a moment before he cleared his throat. "I'll see ya tomorrow, Mariska," he told her with an almost sad smile.

Mariska shook her head almost violently and almost reached out to physically stop him from leaving but he turned and walked away leaving her in a far worse slump then before.

She stomped her foot, ignoring the looks from the crew, and went into her dresser room, slamming the door behind her. She put the phone on speaker as she collapsed on the couch face first. "That's fine," Ryan told her. "But are we still on for tonight? I made us reservations for a late dinner but if you've already eaten that's fine. There's this great little bar I know, very exclusive and top notch security."

"It's actually a little late and I gotta be in early tomorrow," she told the man already feeling guilty for lying to him.

There was a slight pause. "Oh. Well I mean sure, that makes sense. I'm actually a writer so I completely understand long nights and early mornings," he said with a somewhat forced laugh. "But maybe tomorrow night we could go do something?" he offered hopefully.

"It's gonna be a long night tomorrow too."

"Ah." His voice faltered and his tone was becoming far more nervous. "Well when are you free, we can make a date then?"

"Not in the near future actually," she told him as apologetically as she could. "I mean we're just starting shooting the second half of the season and so it's gonna be a few weeks where I won't have any free time. I'm sorry."

A twinge of guilt overtook her as she lied to the man. She was actually free this Saturday but she had hoped to spend that day and possibly night with Peter, not a blind date Stephanie had set her up with.

There was another pause before he spoke, his voice nothing but downtrodden . "Oh. I see. Well uh, don't worry about it, ya know? We all had our long days. But you have my number so when you get free just give me a call."

Mariska's heart sank even more as she heard the disappointment through the phone. She sighed as she sat up on the couch and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry, Ryan. You seem like a really nice guy, and I really do have a lot to do tomorrow and every day after that and then today I'm wiped out."

"No, no, I understand. But um... like I said, you have my number so... I'll talk to you later... Maybe?"

"Sure," she told him, shifting uncomfortably where she sat. "Have a good night, Ryan."

"You too."

And without another word she flipped the phone shut and shoved it into her pocket. With a heavy sighed she got up from the couch, pulled on her jacket, ignored the phone call from Stephanie who would be demanding to know why she canceled on yet another blind date, and headed out for the evening.

The whole ride home she was unusually quiet, unable to concentrate on anything but the tall green eyed man she had insulted earlier then had given the impression she was actually going on a date a guy when she hadn't even met him.

He was intelligent, amazingly good looking, funny, witty, charming.. as much as she tried she couldn't think of any kind of flaw on him apart from he didn't like being called an ethnic slur.

As soon as the driver pulled up to her door, she thanked him with a smile that was far less genuine then usual, greeted her doorman with equal joyfulness, and headed up to her apartment.

It was abandoned and silent when she walked in. After double checking her locks, she walked over to her couch and collapsed on it with a sigh, conflicted. She wanted to be alone but at the same time she hated being alone. Sure she had a large magnitude of friends she could have called p and, if she was really feeling ambitious, she could have had a small party going on within fifteen minutes.

But she didn't want that kind of company. She wanted company where she could just rest her head on his chest, wrap her arms around him, and nuzzle into his shirt.

She hadn't had sex in four months and she would have been lying if she said she wasn't sick of coming home to an empty apartment every night.

Mariska sighed as she glanced over to a photo of her family when she was only six months old, with Jayne front and center holding Mariska in her arms while her other siblings stood around her.

"Look at you, Mom," the brunette sighed. "You had husbands, a minivan full of kids, a great career... Why am I only allowed to choose one?"

Mariska continued to look at the photo for several more seconds before she began to feel the effects of the day weighing on her. With a heavy groan, she got off the couch, made her way into her bathroom, and readied herself for bed.

After she had finished, Mariska laid there in bed in a simple silky black teddy, praying that things went completely different with Peter and he would realize just how much he meant to her.

She didn't realize the same prayer was being uttered fifteen blocks away by the same man she was praying about...

Please Review, I know it's moving kind of slow but it'll pick up, I promise.


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